School Security

WASHINGTON - U.S. citizens who are considered a terror threat and banned from flying on passenger airplanes can nonetheless learn to fly without hindrance, a glaring loophole that emerged during a congressional hearing Wednesday into security lapses at the nation's 935 accredited flight schools. “I'm shocked to hear that someone on the no-fly list can be approved for flight lessons,” said Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee. “It is mind-blowing.” U.S. citizens are screened against terrorism databases only after flight training, when they apply for a pilot's license.

Re "A profession under siege," Column, April 12 The teaching profession is not only under siege, it is also underappreciated. Teachers are too often second-guessed and shortchanged by administrators who do not always have their best interests at heart. The incident at Santa Monica High School involving a teacher who evidently had to resort to physical force to restrain an unruly 18-year-old student brings into sharp focus the ambivalence of a school district when conflict arises in the classroom.

In response to repeated acts of vandalism and graffiti, not only to our school but to neighboring schools as well, students, parents and staff of Canterbury / Canterbury Magnet Elementary School have written over 200 hundred letters to LAUSD Supt. Sid Thompson and board member Julie Korenstein. The school community is extremely frustrated about what is happening to their second home. The vandalism includes break-ins, destruction of property, theft, graffiti and arson damage. Teachers have lost personal property and have been unduly stressed.

As she does every day, Kay Cates asked her 10-year-old son how his school day went. He shrugged. "We did math. We did reading. We had a lockdown," the Boulder fourth-grader replied. She froze. When pressed, the boy matter-of-factly explained the protocol he has rehearsed since kindergarten: "We hid so in case a man with a gun came he can't find us. " That was Dec. 4. Nine days later, across the Denver metro area in Centennial, a man with a gun came to Arapahoe High School.

Glendale Unified School District officials have announced plans to bolster security measures at campuses districtwide. At a school board meeting last week, officials said they plan to equip all schools with security cameras. Reception areas at all 30 campuses will also get "panic buttons" that make direct emergency calls to 911 with a single push, said Alan Reising, an administrator of district facilities. Officials also want to create a single entry point at all elementary schools.

As the latest victim of a campus shooting lay wounded in a Los Angeles hospital Wednesday, legislation that would provide millions of dollars to beef up school security appeared to have little chance of passing. With two more days left in the legislative session, the bill by Sen. Teresa Hughes (D--Inglewood) remained bottled up in the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, where it is being blocked by local governments led by the League of California Cities.

If school board members have their way, Irvine high school students can expect beefed up security when classes resume this fall. The Board of Education is set to determine exactly what new security measures to adopt and how much to spend during two special meetings Aug. 3 and 10. Ideas range from hiring more security guards to installing electronic surveillance cameras.

The recent shooting across the street from Nelson School (Times, Jan. 15) requires that the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District increase security measures. Schools are no different from any other valuable property; just as banks, factories, shopping malls and government buildings require security services, every one of our campuses must have a 24-hour security surveillance! The money saved from the prevention of theft, graffiti, fires, vandalism, lawsuits and increasing deductible insurance payments would eventually pay for the cost of security expenses.

It's 8:15 a.m. at Morningside High School and teen-agers with book bags slung over their shoulders are streaming past the sentry at the front gate. The warning bell for the first class of the day is minutes away. "Good morning, young lady," the man known to many as "Super Dad" calls out to one girl. She immediately breaks out a smile. Then the Rev. Charles E. Frazier delivers his real message: "If you hurry, you can beat the tardy bell."

Transparent backpacks. Plastic windows for lockers. Metal detectors. Gated campuses. These are some of the safety measures returning with kids to school this fall in the wake of campus shootings, including the April massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., where two students shot and killed 12 classmates and a teacher before taking their own lives. But Orange County educators are largely ignoring what some of them consider alarmist overreactions.

Some months after the Sandy Hook murders, Scott J. Svonkin, elected in 2011 to the Los Angeles Community College board of trustees, heard that a couple of his own campuses were hosting gun safety classes. They had to go, he decided. His colleagues unanimously agreed with him. “When I found out about it,” he said, “I decided I wanted to ban guns on our campuses. I wasn't aware of this noncredit gun class; I decided it'd be safer not to have guns on our campuses. I don't oppose people's right to own guns, but schools shouldn't be places where guns are allowed in the hands of anyone but law enforcement.” 2013 ENDINGS: Columnist Patt Morrison on what she won't miss His colleagues passed a resolution that, in the interest of a safe learning environment, banished the noncredit classes from all nine of the district's campuses; “the presence of firearms,” it read in part, “even when nonoperational and in the instructional setting, lends itself to the potential for panic and fear.” By doing so, the L.A. district bucked a trend.

A student at a Cincinnati parochial school was in critical condition after he pulled out a gun in a classroom and shot himself in an apparent suicide attempt, officials said. The youth, who has not been named, was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where his condition was described as critical, officials said. The incident, the latest involving a gun at a school, took place at La Salle High School in Cincinnati. About 700 students attend the all-male Roman Catholic school, which posted a message on the building's announcement board: “Please Pray for the Students of La Salle.” About 8 a.m., “a student produced a gun inside one of the classrooms and shot himself, and we're dealing with that now,” Green Township Police Chief Bart West told reporters at a televised news conference at the school.

WASHINGTON - In a lopsided vote, the Senate launched a debate Thursday over the most significant gun legislation in more than a decade, setting up a contest that could last weeks between reinvigorated advocates for stricter laws and conservatives who oppose them as a violation of the 2nd Amendment. The bipartisan 68-31 vote, which saw 16 Republicans join 52 Democrats and independents to begin consideration of gun legislation, was a setback for gun rights advocates who had threatened to block it. The bill includes provisions to spend more on school security and to increase penalties for selling guns to felons and others banned from ownership.

April 3, 2013 | By Michael Muskal, This post has been updated, as indicated below.

A lone gunman attacked a Connecticut elementary school just four months ago, renewing a debate on how to control gun violence. On Wednesday, that state's Legislature began the final steps of passing what advocates call one of the nation's toughest gun-control laws. “The tragedy in Newtown demands a powerful response, demands a response that transcends politics,” said Senate President Donald E. Williams Jr., a Democrat. Speaking during a televised broadcast of his chamber's proceedings.

Glendale Unified School District officials have announced plans to bolster security measures at campuses districtwide. At a school board meeting last week, officials said they plan to equip all schools with security cameras. Reception areas at all 30 campuses will also get "panic buttons" that make direct emergency calls to 911 with a single push, said Alan Reising, an administrator of district facilities. Officials also want to create a single entry point at all elementary schools.

January 13, 2013 | By Stephen Ceasar and Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times

Behind a locked classroom door, a Los Angeles third-grade teacher purportedly committed lewd acts against students. The charges spurred demands for classrooms to remain open during the school day. But after the shooting deaths of 20 first-graders in Connecticut last month, calls were made to keep classrooms locked. The intent of both efforts is to keep students safe. But as school districts nationwide examine their security measures following the Newtown, Conn., massacre, the question of locked versus unlocked classroom doors is in debate.

A school security officer who was arrested and charged with kidnaping a woman and gang raping her pleaded not guilty and was suspended from his job with the Long Beach Unified School District. Victor Lopez Jr., 27, was arrested along with three other men identified as gang members by sheriff's deputies early Friday morning.

Calls for police protection, more supervision and security fencing have come from parents worried about an outbreak of graffiti at Millikan Middle School. On Monday night, the frustration was shared by parents, teachers and administrators who met to study ways to provide more security at the school.

WASHINGTON -- As he began a final series of meetings with stakeholder groups to develop recommendations on gun violence, Vice President Joe Biden signaled Wednesday that one focus may be on measures the Obama administration can take independently of Congress. Biden said the issue of gun violence is one “that requires immediate action,” and the president and he were “determined to take action.” "I want to make clear that we're not going to get caught up in the notion that, unless we can do everything, were going to do nothing,” Biden told reporters before a meeting with gun safety advocates and victims of gun violence.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. - After more than five months of legal maneuvering, a preliminary hearing is set to begin Monday in the case against the suspect in the Aurora movie theater massacre to determine if prosecutors have enough evidence to go to trial on 166 counts of murder, attempted murder and weapons charges. Hundreds are expected to testify in the weeklong hearing, including scores of victims who will recount the terrifying moments just after 12:30 a.m. on July 20 when authorities say James E. Holmes, a brilliant former neuroscience student, opened fire in a packed midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises.